At the End of the Storm
by Rose Stetson
Summary: Tag to "Brain Storm" - SJ implied and McKay/Keller pairings


**At the End of the Storm**

_Tag to "Brain Storm"_

"Sounds like you two had quite an evening." Colonel Samantha Carter said with a playful smile as she walked into the infirmary to find Dr. Rodney McKay sitting beside Dr. Jennifer Keller's bedside, holding her hand, as she was treated by the doctors at the SGC for her mild case of hypothermia.

"Colonel Carter." Jennifer said with a small smile. "It's nice to see you again."

"Dr. Keller." She said as she walked a little further into the room. "How are you feeling?"

"Better." She said, honestly. "Thank you for asking."

"Sounds like you saved the world, Rodney." Sam said, looking over at her fellow physicist.

He only nodded briefly, still caressing Jennifer's hand.

"You're not going to list the several other times you saved the world?" Sam asked, raising an eyebrow in surprise.

"Huh?" He asked, looking over at her as if he hadn't heard what she'd just said.

"It was our first date." Jennifer said, looking back over at Rodney as she squeezed his hand.

Sam looked at the other physicist for a moment, clearly feeling a bit of empathy for the younger man. "Right. I should have guessed...with the dress and the tux." She inhaled. "Well, I just wanted to check in..."

"How are things with that guy?" Jennifer asked, looking back at Sam.

Rodney's interest suddenly piqued. "Guy?"

Sam coughed, uncomfortably. "Guy?"

"Yeah. That guy you told me about when we were stuck in the Genii mine." Jennifer said, nodding. "You know...older guy, in Washington, about to retire..."

"Still complicated." Sam said, turning slightly red. She looked back at Rodney. "You know, I was actually invited to Tunney's presentation. Even though I haven't exactly published a paper since I started working on the Stargate project."

"Why didn't you go?" Jennifer asked, earnestly. "Trust me, I could have used another level head with all those...physicists."

Sam smiled, appreciatively. "Well, first of all, Rodney was going, and represented the Stargate Program better than I could have. Second of all, General Landry is in Washington, trying to get a special task force together, and he left me in charge."

"You know, it's not exactly true..." Rodney said, piping into the conversation for the first time since she'd walked into the room. "me representing the SGC better than you could have. It may have been my work that Tunney stole, but I think you'd have been a bit better at...mingling..."

"Thank you, Rodney." She said with a curious smile.

"And, next to me, you'd have been the best to try and close down the matter bridge."

Sam looked over at Jennifer, almost alarmed at the change that had come over Rodney.

"He's trying to be more humble."

"Ah." Sam said, nodding. "Well...thank you again, Rodney." She said, acknowledging his second compliment.

"So...this guy in Washington..." Jennifer said, looking over at Sam. "It wouldn't be General Landry, would it?"

Sam broke into a laugh as she shook her head. "No." She said with a grin. "Definitely not. That would be against regulations, and...he's not really my type."

"Oh." Jennifer said, clearly disappointed that she hadn't learned the identity of the Colonel's secret love interest.

"How's General O'Neill?" Rodney asked, looking over.

"General O'Neill is...fine..." She said, evenly. "Why?"

"Well, I know you two are friends, and I had sent a proposal. I thought that maybe he'd run it by you..."

"I haven't seen a thing." Sam said, shaking her head.

"Colonel Carter to the Control Room, Colonel Carter to the Control Room."

The page interrupted the silence, and Sam managed an apologetic smile. "Duty calls."

"It was good to see you, Colonel."

"Good to see you too, Doctor."

"Yeah, thanks Sam." Rodney added, softly.

"You're welcome, Rodney." She said, nodding, affirmatively, before she left the room.

"So," Jennifer said, turning to Rodney. "We've got a day or so in here, and then, I'm off to see my dad."

"And me to see my sister."

"You know, you don't have to wait for me to be released to see your sister." She said, wryly.

"Yeah, well..." He said, shrugging.

She bit her lip. "You could come to see my dad with me..."

"You could come to see my sister with me."

"I'm not sure..."

"Jeannie doesn't...dislike you." He said, attempting to be lighthearted.

Jennifer pulled away from him with an uncomfortable smile on her lips.

"Look, she just..." He tried to explain.

"We didn't have the same opinions of how to treat you." She said, simply. "And if I hadn't been so emotionally involved in the case..."

"You would have made the same decision. And it wasn't a bad one." He said, dismissively.

"You wouldn't be here if she hadn't pushed to take you to the shrine." She said, simply.

"And I wouldn't be here if you hadn't dismissed the idea of just accepting that "one last day" crap they were trying to feed you." He said, seriously. "You two were a good team."

Jennifer managed a grateful smile. "Maybe we should wait to officially "meet" the family." She said, quietly. "At least until we know that whatever this is...is solid."

He nodded. "Sounds like a good idea."

She leaned her head back against the pillows before she looked back over at him. "Who do you think she's got lined up for her in Washington?"

"Who? Sam?" Rodney asked, innocently.

She nodded.

"I have no idea." He said, shaking his head.

"Oh, come on, you've got to have at least one!"

"All I know is that one of the last times I was here at the SGC before I went on the Atlantis expedition, I made the mistake of making a mistake which led to Sam injuring her hand, and I thought she was dead, and so I was here in the infirmary, and then, she woke up, and I said something about hospital gowns turning me on, and..."

"What?" Jennifer asked, looking at him in surprise.

He managed a nervous smile. "It's...not weird." He said, shaking his head. "It's a perfectly logical and..."

"You had a crush on Colonel Carter!" She said with a grin.

"It was a very long time ago." He defended.

"You were mooning over her not even a year ago, Rodney." Jennifer said raising an eyebrow. "I remember the whole "perfect body" debacle."

"I was hoping you hadn't been listening." He said, sheepishly.

"Anyway...you told her that hospital gowns turn you on, and..."

"When General O'Neill got back, well, actually he was Colonel O'Neill back then, from releasing the Gate which was about to explode into the atmosphere, well, um...he kind of...said I'd better shape up or he'd send me back to Russia."

"Russia?"

He nodded. "And then, Sam admitted that she liked me...a little bit."

"Careful..." Jennifer said, wryly. "I'm starting to feel a bit jealous."

Rodney laughed. "Whoever she's got in Washington has got her WAY off the market. Believe me, I tried to get her back on."

Jennifer raised an eyebrow, and he grinned. "Besides, she's not the one in here wearing a hospital gown."

She giggled as he leaned in to kiss her. "Rodney..."

"I'm glad you're okay." He said, seriously, as he leaned his forehead against hers.

"Thanks for saving me." She said, earnestly.

He shrugged, modestly. "Hey, you were my date. How would it look if I managed to save the world and not my date?"

"I thought you were going to try to be humble." She teased.

"I never said I was perfect."

She raised an eyebrow.

"At this humility stuff..." He amended. "And I've got a while to go yet, but...I hope you won't stop helping me."

"Well," she said with a playful smile on her lips. "I've got to have something to do on those days when you aren't complaining of a hangnail."

He smiled as she leaned in to kiss him again.


End file.
